Rupen Semerciyan

Rupen Semerciyan — Biography

Rupen Semerciyan (born 1904 in Istanbul) was a Turkish basketball coach, player and referee of Armenian descent. He began his basketball career at Robert College in Istanbul and became known in the 1930s for his role in introducing and popularizing the sport in Turkey, which led the Turkish National Sports Organization to task him with founding the country's national basketball team.

Semerciyan served as the first coach of the Turkish national basketball team from 1935 to 1938, leading the side at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he also officiated the 5th-8th place match between the Philippines and Italy. Beyond coaching, he played a foundational role in developing basketball refereeing in Turkey.

He later settled in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. His legacy in the sport is commemorated through the Rupen Semerciyan Basketball Tournament, held annually in his name since 1988.